Nothing unusual in Oscar's early release - lawyer

There was nothing unusual in releasing Reeva Steenkamp's killer, Oscar Pistorius, a few hours early, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

“I don’t see anything improper in releasing him a couple of hours earlier,” William Booth told News24.

It was not necessarily preferential treatment as he had served more than the required 10 months of jail time.

Pistorius completed the 10 months, or one-sixth, of his five-year jail sentence on August 21. He is expected to spend the rest of his sentence at the Waterkloof, Pretoria, home of his uncle Arnold Pistorius.

Pistorius was snuck out of Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II prison on Monday evening, despite the parole board saying last week that he would be released on Tuesday.

He was sentenced in terms of section 276 1 (i) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which states that an offender may be released into correctional supervision after a period of imprisonment, at the discretion of the correctional services commissioner or parole board.

“This sentence... is imposed on a fairly regular basis for offenders, so it’s not a special Oscar Pistorius kind of sentence at all. People seem to think that,” Booth said.

To be released into correctional supervision an offender had to meet certain requirements, like have a fixed address, be able to do community service, and participate in programmes like anger management.

On October 21 last year, Pistorius was sentenced to five years in jail for shooting Steenkamp dead on Valentine's Day in 2013. He was sentenced to a further three years, suspended for five years, for firing a shot at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg, in January 2013.